Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Frank Frazetta’s Moon Maid #1
Image Comics
Fotos & Vigil

The Frazetta line continues with the one shot about the classic painting of the young beauty riding on the back of a demon-horse-man creature. The comic gives an excellent back story to the painting and creates an interesting little world in which the characters live in. We also have a wide range of visually impressive characters that weave in and out of this story. The comic is a good addition to this line of comics.

The set up is that the moon maid is running through the wastelands when she is attacked by some giant ape-like creatures. Enter Charka, the demon-horse-man creature. He battles with ape creatures and convinces the moon maid to stay with him for her protection.

Through the comic we learn why the moon maid was fleeing and what the world around her has transformed into. Eventually we find out that the moon maid is hunted by quite a few people because she carries a means to create life and hope in the desolate land. Others pursue her while Charka seems to be her only hope to be free. But what is her destiny? Surely, she isn’t supposed to just ride around the wasteland on this guy’s back. Is she?

The comic gives a quick story to set up the twists and turns in the plot and it works well in this one shot. The one nagging problem with all of this is how important the moon maid seems to be and, yet, she seems to have no clue about it. “Babe in the woods” comes to mind almost whenever she opens her mouth.

The comic has excellent creativity in the various monsters in the comic. Some of the flying monkeys do seem to come right out of the Wizard of Oz, but they fit so well in this type of story. Plus, flying monkeys are scary and funny at the same time.

The artwork is up there with the best of the Frazetta line. Dark tones and evil faces rule the book. This comic doesn’t end as bleak as many of the other Frazetta comics which is a shift for the artwork to handle, but it does it well.

I recommend this issue for the type of reader who likes the sword and sorcery comics or someone who just likes a good one and done comic with terrific artwork. You literally need to have no background to come into this comic and enjoy it.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles